Years ago, before I’d even met Dr W, I had a boyfriend whose sister-in-law was Japanese. She and I didn’t agree on much, but we did agree that these aubergines (which she made every time I visited her house) are pretty sublime.
Takako used to make this using those lovely wee Japanese aubergines – the sort that leave you gasping with their visual similarity to eggs and explain the whole eggplant nomenclature thing (not obvious when you are 18 and the only eggplants you have ever met are purple and shaped like a torpedo). Happily for those of us without a supplier of dear little Japanese aubergines, this works very well with the purple sort too. Aubergines are a wonderfully meaty sort of vegetable. Although this works really well as an accompaniment, this lovely meatiness means that you can happily serve this dish as the main event, with rice and perhaps a salad dressed with some rice vinegar. It’s also a good win if you have an unexpected visiting veggie, and, being one of those things you serve at room temperature, I think it’s really, really good as part of a picnic. These do soak up quite a lot of oil, as is common with aubergines, but hell – it’s not like you’re making this dish every day. To serve two, you’ll need:
2 medium aubergines
200g shiromiso (white miso)
2 tablespoons sake (Chinese rice wine is good here if you have no sake)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons mirin
6 tablespoons ground nut oil
As usual, if you’re having trouble finding white miso, head for a large independent health food shop. They tend to have a bewilderingly good selection of miso, seaweeds, pickled ginger and the like. I have no idea why, given that most of the other nutty, protein-knitted, fermenty things masquerading as food that the health food shop I use sells are things I have no interest in ingesting at all. Boo hippies.
Start by slicing the aubergines into three lengthways. Slash the cut surfaces diagonally, without cutting all the way through the flesh, and without cutting the skin. Fry in the hot oil over a medium heat, turning halfway through, until the skin and flesh is golden brown, and the aubergine is soft.
While the aubergine slices are frying, make the den miso by combining the mirin, sugar, sake and miso in a small frying pan and bringing to a very gentle simmer, stirring all the time. Cook the sauce for two minutes and keep warm until the aubergines are cooked.
Move the cooked aubergines to a plate and smear the hot den miso all over their upper surface, making sure the paste gets into the slashes. Leave the slices to come down to room temperature before serving – for some reason, this dish is all the more delicious when it’s cold.
Delicious! I love this dish! You can also try baking them if you like because they do soak up a lot of oil :)Hope you wont mind but I’d love to direct Foodista readers to your site, just add this little widget here and it’s all set to go, Thanks!
I’m not a lover of eggplant and I believe its not so much that I don’t like eggplant, but that its not properly prepared. this, however, looks great… and thanks for tip on finding miso. I’ve been having trouble finding it and never though to look at a health food store.
Baking them’s all very well, Alisa, but the taste and texture are so good when they’re fried (largely due to all that oil) that I’m pretty happy to pretend I didn’t notice how much oil really went into the dish.
Gastroanth – glad to help out! Do let me know how you get on.
Ooh ooh ooh! I had eggplant like this years ago in a Japanese restaurant and I didn’t know you could make it at home. Thank you very much!!!
Delighted to inspire such enthusiasm, Sammy!
Would it work with deep fried aubergine slices (like one would make for szechuan sea-spiced aubergine?)
Hello Anon! I don’t see why it shouldn’t – if you give it a whirl, do come back here and let me know how it went.
I’ve not come across them with miso, though I had a Japanese friend who cooked them exquisitely in tempura. To me, they are the most voluptuous things. Please, if you’ve a moment, look here…
Voluptuous is exactly the word, Lucy – they’re among my very favourite vegetables. And I love your painting; aubergines are splendid things to look at as well as eat!